Internet access is a special resource of which needs has become universal across the public whereas the service is operated in the private sector. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) put efforts for management, planning, and optimization; however, they do not link such activities to socioeconomic fairness. In this paper, we make a first step towards understanding the relation between socioeconomic status of customers and network performance, and investigate potential discrimination in network deployment and management. The scope of our study spans various aspects, including urban geography, network resource deployment, data consumption, and device distribution. A novel methodology that enables a geo-socioeconomic perspective to mobile network is developed for the study. The results are based on an actual infrastructure in multiple cities, covering millions of users densely covering the socioeconomic scale. We report a thorough examination of the fairness status, its relationship with various structural factors, and potential class specific solutions.
翻译:摘要:
互联网接入是一种特殊资源,其需求已经成为公众的普遍需求,但该服务由私营部门运营。移动网络运营商(MNO)通过管理、规划和优化来努力提供服务,然而他们并没有将这些活动与社会经济公平联系起来。在本文中,我们迈出了向了解客户社会经济状况与网络性能之间关系的第一步,并调查网络部署和管理中潜在的歧视问题。我们的研究范围涵盖了各种方面,包括城市地理、网络资源部署、数据消费和设备分布。我们开发了一种新方法,为研究移动网络提供了地理-社会经济视角。结果基于多个城市的实际基础设施,涵盖了经济水平密集的数百万用户。我们报告了公平状况的彻底调查,以及与各种结构因素的关系和潜在的类别特定解决方案。